Central Notes: Cubs, Tigers, Marcum, Twins

The trade market is woefully thin in options, and one executive told Buster Olney of ESPN.com (Insider sub. req'd) that there are "only six teams" that are ready to sell. That includes three teams out of the Central divisions – the Cubs, Astros, and Twins plus the Mariners, A's, and Rockies. Here's more out of the AL and NL Central..

Jon Paul Morosi of FOX Sports (via Twitter) notes that the Tigers‬ were interested in Shaun Marcum during the offseason that the Brewers landed him. Marcum, he says, could be an option for Detroit if he's healthy.

If the Twins do wind up as sellers, General Manager Terry Ryan says that no player will be off the table, writes Phil Mackey of 1500 ESPN. "I never consider anybody untouchable. That's not the way to go about business on a baseball team or organization," Ryan said. "If you've got chances to do things that make a lot of sense for your club there shouldn't be any untouchables. Players know that, agents know that, and so does the fan base."

When speaking with reporters today, Cubs‬ GM Jed Hoyer had no update on talks with first-round pick Albert Almora, except to say dialogue continues, tweets Carrie Muskat of MLB.com. The high school outfielder is one of ten unsigned first-round selections in the 2012 draft.

The loss of Prince has had a larger impact than Pujols leaving the Cards. Likely because the Brewers have traded most of their high level prospects over the past couple of years (CC, Greinke, etc.) where the Cards have developed from within. It was a ‘win now’ approach that just didn’t pay the dividends as they hoped and this is the repercussions of it. Sadly, they knew they couldn’t keep/afford him which is why (in retrospect) they could have traded him for MANY top level prospects to rebuild for the long-term.

So my dream of the pirates getting josh willingham to play rf next 2 seasons is still in tact Terry Ryan we match up nice together and would cost 2 of what it will to sniff at upton eve take a flyer on lorino he can not be worse than bedarad